Detectability of possible space weather effects on Mars upper atmosphere and meteor impacts in Jupiter and Saturn with small telescopes

Abstract

Amateur astronomers operating small telescopes accumulate a larger amount of observational time of Solar System planets than the ensemble of professional telescopes. Over the last 15 years, advancements in low-cost fast acquisition cameras and image software processing tools have pushed forward the scientific analysis of these observations thanks to a sustained increase in quality and spatial resolution. The high temporal coverage attained by amateur astronomers collaborating with scientists allows detecting rare events in the atmospheres of different planets. In particular, high-atmosphere phenomena in Mars, possibly caused by solar activity, and meteor impacts in Jupiter have been observed serendipitously in the last decade. Here we review the contribution of amateur astronomers to these two fields. Coronal Mass Ejections arriving to Mars under favorable observing conditions can be predicted after observations of the Sun, and their possible effect on Mars upper atmosphere can be monitored with small telescopes. Impacts in Jupiter of two different classes can be discovered by amateur astronomers: intermediate size impacts big enough to leave a debris field on its atmosphere (150-m size objects before the impact), and fireballs caused by objects of 5–20 m producing short-lived flashes in video observations of the planet. In this regard, we present a software tool designed to analyze video observations of Jupiter and Saturn that should help to find new impact flashes on the giant planets.